Trucker seeks lower bond again

He faces charges in Indiana crash that killed five in April.

He faces charges in Indiana crash that killed five in April.

November 18, 2006

MARION, Ind. (AP) -- A Michigan truck driver charged with causing a highway crash that killed a Taylor University employee and four students, including one who was misidentified for weeks, again is asking for his bond to be lowered. A judge last month reduced bond for Robert T. Spencer, 37, to $75,000 from $135,000. Spencer's attorney filed documents this week asking for the bond to be lowered to $44,000 so Spencer could post a $4,400 surety bond and be released from the Grant County Jail. Spencer was arrested Sept. 1 on five counts of reckless homicide and four counts of criminal recklessness causing serious bodily injury for the April 26 crash. Spencer's defense attorney, Joe Keith Lewis, said in the filing that "local citizens" have donated $4,400 for the bond. Prosecutors have objected to the request, saying Spencer's bond already was reduced once. They said in court documents filed Thursday that the money raised would not reduce the risk of Spencer's flight, since he would be under no personal obligation to repay the donations. A hearing on the motion to reduce bond has been set for Nov. 29, the same date as a scheduled hearing on Spencer's change-of-venue motion. The April crash drew national attention five weeks after it happened when it came to light that authorities had mixed up the identifications of 19-year-old Whitney Cerak of Gaylord, Mich., who was severely injured but survived, and 22-year-old Laura VanRyn of Caledonia, Mich., who died.